North Korea hit back Tuesday at a recent US decision to retain it on the list of state sponsors of terrorism, accusing Washington of having engaged in terrorist acts under the pretext of "counterterrorism." Earlier this month, the State Department unveiled its annual Country Reports on Terrorism 2020, which kept the North on the list, along with Iran and Syria. In a post on its foreign ministry website, Pyongyang criticized Washington for posing as the "judge of terrorism,"

South Korea plans to double the number of electric and hydrogen vehicles on its roads next year as part of efforts to achieve its goal of net zero carbon emission by 2050. The government will seek to bring up the number of electric and hydrogen cars in use to about 500,000 in 2022, from the current level of about 248,000 units, the environment and four other ministries said in their joint announcement of policy plans for next year. Under the plans, the numbers of electric cars will rise by 200

Apple could submit its compliance plans for a new South Korean law that bans app store operators from forcing in-app payment systems on developers, industry sources said Tuesday. The new law went into effect in September, making South Korea the first country in the world to introduce such curbs on in-app billing policies of Apple and Google. The Korea Communications Commission (KCC) requested Apple to turn in its compliance plans within this year as it drafted an enforcement decree of the revi

The global TV sensation "Squid Game" will likely return not only with season 2 but also with season 3, its creator Hwang Dong-hyuk said Tuesday. "I'm in talks with Netflix over season 2 as well as season 3," Hwang said in an online interview with Korean broadcaster KBS. "We will come to a conclusion any time soon." It is the first time that the director-writer has hinted at the possibility of a third season of the biggest Netflix original series after he confirmed

South Korea plans to embark on a civilian-military project next year to design a solid-fuel space launch vehicle under a broad initiative to develop the country's space defense industry, the state arms procurement agency said Tuesday. At a policy forum, the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) unveiled the initiative consisting of 24 key tasks aimed at locally developing cutting-edge technologies, nurturing the space industry and strengthening civilian-military cooperation. The in

Main opposition presidential candidate Yoon Suk-yeol said Tuesday he feels sorry for former President Park Geun-hye over a corruption probe he conducted as a senior prosecutor a few years ago that eventually led to her impeachment. "Even though the investigation of former President Park was my job as a public official, I feel truly sorry politically and emotionally as a human being," Yoon of the main opposition People Power Party (PPP) said during a discussion hosted by the Korea Broa

About 78 percent of salaried workers support the 52-hour workweek that was introduced in 2018 to reduce long working hours, a labor ministry survey showed Tuesday. According to the survey of 1,300 people, 71 percent said the reduction of the maximum weekly working hours to 52 from 68 was a good decision. Of the wage earning respondents, in particular, 77.8 percent were in support of the shorter workweek. The Nov. 26-30 survey had a margin of error of plus or minus 2.72 percentage points and

SEJONG -- The number of small companies in South Korea expanded nearly 5 percent in 2020 from a year earlier despite the pandemic, but their profit fell sharply, government data showed Tuesday. The country had 2,902,000 companies with fewer than five workers as of the end of 2020, up 4.7 percent from a year earlier, according to the data from Statistics Korea and the Ministry of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) and Startups. The largest number of such companies were retailers and who

SEJONG -- The number of businesses in South Korea rose nearly 18 percent over the past five years as almost all industrial sectors posted gains, data showed Tuesday. Asia's fourth-largest economy had a total of 6,013,000 businesses as of the end of 2020, up 17.8 percent from five years earlier, according to the data from Statistics Korea. One-man operations accounted for the biggest proportion of the total with 79 percent, followed by corporations with 15.4 percent and other establishments wit

A Seoul court has rejected a Hong Kong-based private equity firm's request for Kyobo Life Insurance Co. to carry out its obligation with regard to a put option that it has been trying to exercise, the South Korean insurer said Tuesday. The ruling appears to have removed a major hurdle for Kyobo Life's push to list shares on the local stock bourse in the first half of next year, according to company officials. In October 2018, Affinity Equity Partners exercised a put option on 6 million shares

South Korea's oldest coal-powered plant will be shut down for good this week, the energy ministry said Tuesday, in line with the government's plan to shift toward renewable energy and to reduce fine dust. Honam Coal Power Plant, located in Yeosu, 450 kilometers south of Seoul, will stop operations Friday, according to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. The plant has been in operation since 1973. The closure is part of the Moon Jae-in administration's plan to phase out 10 aging coal po

UN special rapporteurs on human rights expressed concerns over the October arrest of the leader of a major South Korean umbrella labor union, and the government has countered that his arrest was warranted because he organized illegal rallies in disregard of antivirus rules. The special rapporteurs sent a letter to the South Korean government on Oct. 22, saying Yang Kyeung-soo, the leader of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU), legitimately exercised his rights to freedom of expressi

The annual salary of President Moon Jae-in for 2022 was set at 240.6 million won ($202,815) as the Cabinet approved the personnel and management ministry's pay raise plan for public servants Tuesday. According to the plan, public servants will get a 1.4 percent raise for their salary for 2022. Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum will get an annual salary of 186.5 million won, while deputy prime ministers and chief state auditor will receive 141.1 million won next year. The annual salary of ministers

The government will lift restrictions on sales of urea solution as the supply of the essential fluid used in diesel vehicles to cut emissions has been stabilized, the finance ministry said Tuesday. South Korea had struggled to cope with a shortage of urea solution after China imposed export curbs on urea to ease domestic supply bottlenecks. The government has imposed curbs on where and how much of the solution can be sold in a way to ease its shortage. Those restrictions will be lifted starti

South Korea's military on Tuesday reported 28 additional COVID-19 cases, including 27 breakthrough infections, raising the total caseload among its personnel to 3,181. Of the new cases, 15 are from the Army, seven from the Navy, four from the Air Force and two from the Marine Corps, according to the defense ministry. Currently, 268 military personnel are under treatment. Of the total military caseload, 1,385 are breakthrough cases. (Yonhap)